Date:         Wed, 3 Oct 2012 17:42:16 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Handy way to carry long stuff in your Vanagon...
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  If you have the folding bench seat/bed in the back like I do and you
often carry long stuff... But you have other big things that fill the floor
space so you don't want the bed folded down...or you may want a portion of
the seat to use while you have long stuff aboard....I often carry my
sailboards inside and change into my wet suit in the back....stuff like
that......

I was always just shoving lumber, sheetrock, sailboards, ladders, etc.
right in over the back of the bench seat...dragging it over the upholstery,
trying not to snag anything, having a hard time with stuff like sailboards
in padded bags not sliding in easily........
 Now my van is by no means a Garage Queen, but I do like to avoid trashing
it needlessly.   I also use it daily and I'm often carrying long things.
One day it occurred to me that I could 'cap' the top edge of the bench seat
back with some PVC 4" pipe to protect the upholstery and to make stuff
slide in with ease.    I cut a length just slightly shorter than the seat
is wide then cut it length wise on my table saw, twice...taking a section
out just slightly thinner than my seat back.   I took a disc sander and
rounded up the edges of the cuts and the ends of the pipe.   It just pushes
down onto the seat back and stays there by  slightly compressing the
padding....Stuff slides right in over it without worry of harming
anything.  When you want the bed down you just pull off the 'cap' and all
is good.  Simple, cheap, needs no tools and has no moving parts...

   Another fixture I have to carry 4x8' sheets of ply or wallboard or loads
of long lumber inside...saves tying it on a roof rack, keeps it inside out
of the airflow and the rain...

   I took some 24" wide rips of 3/4" plywood and cut them  so one acts as a
leg and one the top of an "L-shaped" table with one leg....What it does is
it bridges across the rear floor with one end of the top on the folded up
kitchen top above the fridge and sink...the leg screws on the other side,
upright near the slider door.   The 2' width makes it stable fore an
aft.    I have a small rotating brace that can be used to 'triangulate' it
side to side...sometimes I use that.    Four screws hold the whole
structure togehter and when it's apart, the two sheets lay flat on the
floor without taking up much room.   Now, with that PVC slider cap on the
bench seat back I can put  sheets of ply or sheetrock inside...
  The first one you have to be careful loading, but then you just pile them
in....Long dimensional lumber goes well on the inside structure, too...14'
will fit inside with the tailgate closed..   I sometimes clamp the load to
that table, somtimes I use a bungee to bundle it all together....
  Saves me lots of time over tying it on the roof.  Lets me park overnight
without worrying about getting long materials rained on and if I lived in a
crime area, stolen from the roof...

 Hope that helps some other worker or wet windsurfer, kayaker,  anybody
else that wants to put long stuff inside often.

  Don Hanson